Long Road to Home
by gocubsgo17
Summary: Contains S6 Spoilers. Just another take on more spoilers I've heard. How do B&B deal with their year apart without hearing one word from each other? Turning into what I'm assuming will be nothing like what will happen in S6...but we can hope! Eventual B
1. Lovesick Diagnostician

**Full description: This story contains short snip-its of my take (well, another) on Booth and Brennan's year apart and a bit of their reunion. It does contain MAJOR SPOILERS so if you do not want to know what is going to happen next season, I'd steer clear of this story. Please read, if you'd like, and drop me a line to let me know what you think. It's short at first but more will come out as time goes on. Things will fall into place and start making sense.**

* * *

"Sarge! There's someone in the restricted zone! Sarge! Wake up!"

"Collins, I swear on my life…what is going on?"

The young private had woken the commanding officer from a deep sleep in barracks that housed the entire unit.

"Strauss and I were on patrol and we found someone in the restricted zone. Strauss is following but we need orders. What do we do?"

Booth sat up and got off of his cot. "How many?"

"Two."

"'Kay, get my gun, I'll meet you out by the storage unit. Who's on armory duty tonight?"

"McGrath and Elmer. Want me to take the long way around and give them a heads up?"

"Nah, it'll take too long. You and Strauss go up behind them, I'll go around the humvee garage. Keep an eye out for me and my signal."

"You got it, Sarge," Collins tossed him his gun and took off. Booth moved quickly and swiftly into position and saw the intruders. They were nearing the armory, the restricted zone for any person outside of Booth's unit and a few people on the lower end of the food chain. He approached the intruders and noted one was a woman.

"Stop right there!" he called. The intruders froze and held up their hands.

"We're Americans!" the woman called out. Booth faltered a bit and wanted to lower his weapon, but he held steady.

"You're trespassing on US government property. You're under arrest," Collins shouted from behind them. Collins and Strauss moved in and placed handcuffs on the two.

"Who are you?" Booth asked, moving closer to them.

"Hannah Mortonson. Washington Times. That's Oliver Jackson, my photographer."

She was tall, only an inch or two shorter than Booth. The fierce look in her eyes while she was being placed in the handcuffs never wavered.

"Journalist?"

"You're a Sergeant…" she muttered, looking at the tabs on his shoulders.

"Sergeant Major Booth. Take them to holding. We'll deal with things in the morning when Nells is awake for paperwork. No sense in waking up the entire camp."

As Strauss and Collins were dragging off the intruders to the holding cells, Hannah muttered, "hard-ass."

Booth chuckled a bit, knowing this chick was not only going to give him hell, but knock his world on its ass.

* * *

The next morning, Booth went to the holding cell to see Hannah and Oliver. As he approached, he could tell, she wasn't just pissed, she was annoyed. Annoyed by the detour. Oliver on the other hand looked scared.

"Sergeant Major Booth! Can we go now?" Oliver asked, the first one to see him.

"No. I need to know what you were doing in the restricted zone of my camp last night."

"It was on accident!"

"Ollie, shut up!"

"Ms. Mortonson, are you going to tell me what's going on or am I'm going to have to ship you back to Kabul and have you taken care of there?"

"She thought it was an insurgent camp!" Oliver offered, not wanting to face any further setbacks or trouble.

"Ollie! God, when I say shut up…"

"Why did you think we were an insurgent camp?"

"I…I got a little…excited. I haven't found very good topics for my stories and I still have another ten months over here."

Booth nodded.

"How quick are you?"

"Faster than lightning."

"No, I mean, how fast do you think?"

"Well…I finished my SAT first and I still got a high score, high enough to get into NYU. So, is that fast enough?"

"If I'm going to let you stay around here, you gotta put up with the boys. You'd be the only girl. Can you hang?"

"Please…" she said as a dismissal, waving him off.

"Fine. Tell you what. Get a hold of your bosses back in Washington and tell them you've found a unit that's willing to be shadowed for the remainder of their deployment. We're here for another ten months too. If you get the okay, you can stay. If not, I'm afraid you'll have to move on."

"Don't you have to get permission from your bosses?"

"I am the boss around here. I don't blame you for thinking we were insurgents. There's not another camp around here for about a day. I'll call my bosses on the satellite phone as soon as you call your bosses. What were you doing all the way out here anyway?"

"Got lost," Hannah answered simply, "How do you know you can trust me? How do you know Ollie and I aren't some sort of spies or something?"

That same intensity in her eyes shone brighter than it did last night and Booth couldn't look away. The last time he had seen that kind of fire in a woman, he had gotten burned, over and over again.

"Call it my gut instinct."


	2. Time

"Daisy, please! Go help Dr. Haluska with the weapons found with the remains."

"But, Dr. Brennan…"

"Go, Ms. Wick."

Daisy stomped off petulantly as Brennan let out a frustrated huff.

"You okay, Temperance?" A fellow anthropologist from the University of Iowa, Dr. Adeline Hudson, asked. The two had become close in the two months they had been on the island, especially since they had no access to the outside world. There was a satellite phone in the storage tent but it was only for extreme emergencies. It was an old phone and the battery life was not up to par with the ones made today.

"Yes, Addie, I'm just a little…annoyed with Daisy at this stage in our excavation process."

"Well, you've told me she was pretty obnoxious back in D.C. and the fact that you came here to escape Agent Booth and love…well, Daisy is just a reminder of what you were getting away from."

"Addie, you make sound like I was running away! Booth and I needed some perspective on our situations."

"Did you get your perspective yet? Because you've been moping around camp lately and yelling the interns like no body's business."

Brennan ignored the jab and went back to brushing the dust and dirt off of the skull.

"Temperance, I love ya, hon, but you're _so _distracting! I don't even know this guy but I know you know made a mistake. At least, I hope you know. He loves you! And you told a hot, sexy, brave, strong, sexy-ˮ

"You said that already."

"Tempe, that man…Mmm, why are you here? And why did he go back to the Army? You two could be making some gorgeous babies back in civilization. Sometimes I wonder why either one of us came out here, so far away from all life forms. Ugh."

"We came to Indonesia to make a scientific discovery that could change the way we look at history," Brennan told her, like she should've known it already.

"I know, hon, but…never mind. Just let me know when you realize that you actually did run away from happiness and the yummy agent," Addie walked away.

She watched her new friend go, becoming one of the only people still at the dig site. Brennan had done everything she could to push Booth to the back of her mind and the only time she thought of him was at night, when she did all in her power not to cry. She knew the instant she would have no contact with anyone in D.C., apart from Daisy of course, that she had made a mistake, not only in leaving but in turning down Booth. She had become a woman she was previously determined to never be. She had never wanted to be those women who depended on a man so much that their world seemed to falter the moment he was gone.

She wanted to go back, desperate even, but she needed a good excuse to leave. Homesickness and love wasn't enough, because she knew he wouldn't be there when she got back.


	3. Get Your Hands Off My Woman

"Ugh, I hate missing baseball season. Best sport in the world," Private Collins muttered.

"Hockey season's coming up. We're going to miss that too," Corporal Strauss said.

"Flyers could take it all the way again!" Booth cheered. The unit was in the barracks, eating their lunch in shelter from the sun. The other guys booed him and Booth quieted down, going back to discussing baseball with his men.

"Anyone got a ball and a bat around here? A pick-up game sounds awesome right now!" Private Nells shouted.

"I brought a baseball from home. We just need a bat," Collins offered, digging the ball out of his bag.

"I'll make one!" Hannah said. She and Oliver had been sitting off to the side, observing the unit for another article.

The men laughed. Booth stood up and walked over to her. "You'll make one?"

She nodded. "What? You don't believe me?"

"No. I don't."

"Fine. Come on, Ollie. Let's go make us a baseball bat. Then I can show these suckers my knuckle curve."

Booth's unit laughed again. "A knuckleball? Hardly any of the major leaguers can throw a knuckle!" Strauss said.

"Can you really throw a knuckleball?" Booth was intrigued. Hannah was something else, like no woman he had met before. She was tougher than half the men in his unit.

"Yes. But if you guys are too chicken to take pitches from a girl, I played fast-pitch softball too. I'll lob ya a few softies," she said, sticking up for herself.

She left the barracks, Oliver following not far behind. Booth, at first, wasn't sure to think of Ollie. He followed Hannah around like a shadow, but it turned out they were partners. Journalist and photographer paired up by the Times. Every time they sent Hannah out for a story, Ollie followed. It reminded him of Bones. The moment he got a call, she was by his side, ready for whatever body, goop or slime they would face. Surprisingly enough to him, he hadn't thought about her in a while. Sure, he missed Bones, missed working with her and missed…well…everything. But, it was easier having Hannah around.

The unit finished their lunch and as commanding officer, Booth made his men clean up and then work out a bit, keeping in shape was a top concern in their environment. While the unit ran laps around their camp, Booth set off to look for Hannah and Ollie.

"There," he heard Hannah say, "this is better than the one I made on the farm."

"On the farm?"

He found them in the storage tent, using random supplies to make what he assumed to be their makeshift baseball bat.

"I grew up on a farm with three brothers. Dad wouldn't buy us a bat until we were old enough to drive the tractors. Said we needed to learn how to be responsible before we could have fun. My oldest brother, Steve, went to a minor league baseball game with a friend for his birthday and caught a foul ball. That's what we used with our bat made out of ply wood and a broomstick. Hopefully this will be better."

It looked like a large, thick PVC pipe with a golf club grip on the end.

"Is that the covering from a spare humvee gear shift? And extra piping for the showers?"

She nodded. "It's this or nothing. You wanna play ball or not?"

"Later. When it's cooler. Plus, we have a few training exercises to run through. Tonight though. Just before the sun goes down and the temp gets too low."

"I'll hold you to it."

* * *

After Booth had run his men ragged, they ate their meager dinners faster than Booth had seen before. They were ready to play a few innings of the game they all loved. As the unit walked outside to an open area, Collins tossed Hannah the ball.

"I really don't think you can throw a knuckle. I think you were just talkin' smack."

"Wanna bet?"

"Yeah. A big steak dinner as soon as we're back on free land."

"Deal. Are you sure you can afford that, Private?"

Collins just chuckled and took their bat up to their home plate, a battered pillow. "We need a catcher and some outfielders. I'm gonna knock this baby outta here!"

"I don't think so, Private," Booth said, swiping the bat from him.

Collins didn't fight his commanding officer and moved out of the way. Booth moved into batting position, digging his feet into the sandy Afghan soil. The men in his unit covered all the outfield and infield positions and Collins took up post as catcher.

"Pick your poison, Booth," Hannah called from her improvised pitchers' mound, "Baseball pitch or a sissy softball toss?"

"Gimme that knuckle curve you're so proud of," Booth taunted. He honestly didn't think she could do it. Although, she had never given him reason to doubt her before.

"Alright, don't bitch and moan when I strike you out though." Hannah surveyed the batter's box, took in account Booth's height and strength, and sucked in a calming, deep breath. She wound up, and chucked the ball, kicking up her leg behind her. The ball floated toward him and didn't start to drop until it was too late. Booth had already swung, missing all contact with the laces.

"Whoa! Damn, Sarge, don't try so hard!" Collins said from behind him.

Booth ignored him and waited for Hannah to give him another pitch. She had a cocky smirk on her face and Booth couldn't help but smile back.

The threw the knuckleball again, the ball sliding off her fingertips and her leg flying up from the force. It flew right past Booth and Collins called another strike. Collins, whose hands were red from catching a ball flying at least seventy miles an hour barehanded, threw the ball back to Hannah once more and she began to prepare herself to toss him another knuckler.

"Hold up!" Booth stopped her, "I get it, you're good. But can you throw anything _other _than a knuckle?"

She just smiled sweetly at him and threw another pitch. Booth swung with all his might, almost knocking himself over.

"Ha! A fastball slider. Damn, Hannah. I think owe you a few steak dinners. Where the hell did you learn to throw that knuckle?"

Hannah laughed lightly and readjusted her long blonde ponytail. "I grew up watching the Niekro brothers in the majors. Those guys had the best knucklers. Booth, out of the way. You're out. Give the bat to some other dumbass who wants to be stuckout."

Booth sent a fake glare her way. She was fearless and feisty, something he hadn't seen in a woman in a long time. She got to him, and she understood him in a way only few others could. He couldn't get Hannah out of his head. She was everywhere and it was exactly what she needed.


	4. Bruised

_**Nine months after they left D.C.**_

There had been rumors floating around that someone else was on the island. They had heard it from the locals but they had just assumed it was that archeology intern that was extremely allergic to pollen who had, for some reason, started coming out of his tent more often.

She and Addie were sitting around the torso of the hominoid skeleton which was partially exposed to the elements. They had already had a few of the smaller ribs shatter due to their inexperience with remains in this type of soil. Brennan and Addie were debating on how to remove the sternum from the dirt when Brennan felt someone behind her.

Their shadows looked large due to the high sun in the sky. She observed the shadows. They were in suits. The crispness of the shoulders gave that much away. She was hesitant to turn around. Brennan was hardly interested in what they wanted and all she wanted to do was get the sternum from the soil so she could begin her examination.

"Dr. Brennan?" One suit asked.

"Not me, her," Addie confessed, pointing her excavation brush at Brennan.

"_Addie_!" Brennan hissed, giving her a look to shut up.

"Dr. Brennan, there's been a request that you make an early return back to the States."

"I have three months left in the islands and I fully plan on finishing my tenure here."

"Dr. Saroyan has requested you, Dr. Brennan," the second suit told her, "She needs your help."

Brennan stopped what she was doing and walked away from the dig site. The suits looked at Addie for an answer. Addie just shrugged and continued pushing away the dust and dirt with her brush.

Brennan soon returned with a duffle bag. As she came to a stop in front of them, she slung it over her shoulder.

"Addie," she called, "You take care of things until I can get back here."

"What if you don't come back?"

"Then it's your project."

Both women were surprised that Brennan had just admitted there was some chance she wouldn't return to the project. Addie waved her goodbye and Brennan demanded that she keep in touch as soon as she returned to the states. With that agreement, Brennan followed the suits to the dock.

"For Dr. Saroyan to admit she needs help is…big. What is going on?" she demanded.

"There was a murder investigation that went bad. The replacements for you, Dr. Hodgins and Ms. Montenegro are all being investigated for leaks in the case. It's a media nightmare and the FBI liaison has gone missing. Dr. Hodgins and Ms. Montenegro are already on their way back to D.C. from Paris."

This situation was not what she had expected.

"Have you contacted Agent Booth?"

Both men in suits shook their heads. "He is unable to come home from his deployment until his scheduled time. Your team will be assigned a new liaison when you arrive to D.C. to finish out the investigation."

"Agent Booth is the best agent the bureau has! We won't solve it without him!"

"I'm sorry, Dr. Brennan. Agent Booth is not coming home."


	5. Losing Lisa

**A/N: If you're confused about the chapter titles, all chapter titles come from Ben Folds song titles and each song either matches the theme or tone with the chapter (Since I know there's no Lisa in this story! :})**

* * *

_**Three months later**_

Booth, his unit and Hannah unloaded the airplane, greeted by happy families. He scanned the crowd for Pops and Parker, knowing they had to be there somewhere. He grabbed Hannah's hand, pulling her through the crowd of crying families, all glad to see their loved ones again.

"Dad! Dad, over here!" Parker pushed through the swarm of people and lunged at his father.

"Parker! Oh, bub, I missed you so much," Booth said, holding onto him tightly.

"Dad, who's that?" Parker pulled away from the hug sooner than Booth would've liked but he knew he was going to have to explain Hannah's presence eventually.

"Parker, this is Hannah Mortonson. Hannah, this is my son, Parker, and my granddad, Hank."

They all said hello and Booth gave his grandfather a big bear hug.

"Dad, does Bones know you have a girlfriend?" Parker asked.

Booth leant down to whisper to Parker. "Why do you think Hannah's my girlfriend?"

"'Cause you keep lookin' at her like you looked at Bones when you wanted her to be your girlfriend."

"Let's just keep that quiet for now, okay, bub? Hannah and I…we are seeing each other, but I haven't talked to Bones. So you let me tell her, alright?"

"Alright, Dad." Parker seemed content with that deal and Booth left it at that. He knew he had to find Bones. He supposed to meet her at the coffee cart later but it was just too damn hot for coffee.

"So, Shrimp, what do you wanna do?" Hank asked.

"I don't know. Parks, what's on the agenda first?"

He was afraid Hannah would feel awkward, but she was trying to win over Hank, telling stories of her stellar knuckleball and the tales of striking Seeley out.

"I don't want to sound conceited, but I throw a pretty mean knuckle. And he just couldn't hit it to save his life," she boasted as they got into a cab big enough for the four of them. Hank didn't seem impressed however, and it worried Booth just a little bit.

"Hannah, when do you get to meet Bones?" Parker asked. Again, his question seemed innocent enough, but Booth was afraid of someone saying the wrong thing. He knew of Parker and Hank's affinity for Brennan and it was something he had yet to discuss with Hannah.

"I'm not sure, Parker. Sarge, when do I get to meet that famous Bones you were telling me about?"

Booth shrugged and blushed a bit. "Today, if ya want. Wanna come with me to see her at the reflecting pool?"

"Can I come too, Dad?"

"Sport, you gotta go back with your mom. I promised you'd be home soon. You have a big week of football camp ahead of you," Hank said.

_Of course, _Booth thought,_ leave it to Rebecca to be a hard-ass the moment I get home._

"I'll talk to your mom about it soon, okay? We'll spend a bunch of time together here real soon, bub, I promise."

He shrugged and went back to staring out the cab window. "Can we at least go to the diner for pie?" Parker asked, heaving the biggest sigh the father had ever heard.

The four went to the diner and sat at Booth and Brennan's regular table. Hank and Parker hardly talked, despite all the poking and prodding from Booth and Hannah.

Booth took Parker up to the diner counter for a little one on one time to ask him what was the problem.

"I miss Bones," he told his dad." I just wish we could go see her."

"You'll see her soon, Park, okay? Once I get back to the FBI and Bones goes back to the museum, you'll see her loads of times when we start working together."

Parker nodded, sadly satisfied with his father's answer.

After the diner, the family parted ways and Booth and Hannah made their way to the promised meeting place.

It was a busy evening at the reflecting pool coffee cart and Booth was having a hard time locating his partner. But it didn't take long to spot the anthropologist. She was already there. Sitting on a bench and holding two coffees, she was staring straight out at the reflecting pool, watching the ripples made by the breeze pass by as she waited patiently for the man she had missed so dearly.

Booth dropped Hannah's hand and walked in front of her. She kept up though, refusing to be left in the dust for the woman who had broken Seeley's heart. He had told Hannah all about her, and she wasn't impressed. Hannah didn't understand how she turned him down; he obviously loved her, he probably still did, for all she knew.

"Bones." He stood in front of her. She had changed. He could tell. Not just physically, but mentally, emotionally too.

"Booth." She stood up but didn't move any more than that. She held out the cup of lukewarm coffee for him and he took it gracefully.

They didn't move for several moments. The partners just took each other in, attempting to adjust to the other's presence again. They never broke eye contact, the intensity increasing with each passing moment.

Only the next words interrupted their reveries:

"Hello, Dr. Brennan. I'm Hannah, Seeley's girlfriend."


	6. Protection

"I cannot believe it. Wow. So you change your mind about Studly and he comes home with a smokin' hot chick from war. That blows."

"Thank you, Angela. I already know all about my situation. I'm here because I need to know what to do about it. I have never been in this situation before, so the circumstances are unfamiliar."

They were sitting on the expansive deck at the Hodgins estate, looking out over the peaceful pond. It was a warm May night and Brennan was thankful Hodgins had an extensive wine cellar.

"You need to talk to him about it, Bren. Just tell him, even though we all know he's got that hot little thing hanging all over him," Angela said, taking a large swig of wine.

"Thanks," Brennan deadpanned. "That's what you would do? If Dr. Hodgins was with another woman, yet you were having chemical reactions in the brain classified as romantic feelings, you would just tango right on up to him and say something?"

"It's _waltz,_ Sweetie, _waltz _up to him, and of course I would! I'd kick his ass for being stupid and not waiting for you to come around! Actually, can I go kick his ass?"

Brennan laughed just a bit but she didn't respond.

"Just tell him, Sweetie. It's that or nothing. Brennan, whether he still loves you or not, he deserves to know."

She nodded. "Does he know that Heather Taffet is dead now? He needs to know that too."

"I'm not sure," Angela said sincerely. They all had come home early to help Cam solve the escape of the most feared serial killers known to man. She had escaped by roping the new Jeffersonian liaison into her grasp, convincing Agent Perotta to take her from the jail to show her where there is another body waiting, only to capture Perotta with the help of a Jeffersonian employee. It was Cam's job to keep the case from the media, knowing that if news of Taffet's escape or Perotta's disappearance got out, it would cause mass chaos.

But, it was inevitably leaked. And it turned out to be Angela's replacement that was in Taffet's pocket. Mary Sash, the interim forensic artist, was being blackmailed by the Gravedigger in order to keep her daughter from harm. Sash was thrown in jail after giving Brennan information on where Taffet was hiding. After days of searching, Brennan led a team of junior FBI agents to a small country cabin in coal country in Virginia. Taffet pulled out a gun and aimed at Brennan but the agents had a shoot to kill order and they did just that. Taffet was dead, but they still hadn't found Peyton.

Perotta was barely alive when the Jeffersonian team cracked the clues left behind by Taffet. She spent several days recovering in the hospital but she was almost as determined as Brennan to return to work. Despite both women's history working together, Brennan felt compassion toward the agent. She told Perotta that she needs more time to recover than just physically, that it was foolish to believe that she would be fine after a few days in the hospital.

"I believe I should be the one to tell him. He needs to know about Agent Perotta and about Taffet and I feel like it's my responsibility as his partner to inform him," Brennan said, standing up and reaching for her car keys.

"While you're there, Sweetie, tell him you're madly, deeply, truly in love with him and sock the journalist for me, will ya?"

"Angela, you have had too much wine, but I'll take the first part of your suggestion under advisement. I'll see you at the lab tomorrow."

* * *

Brennan anxiously knocked on Booth's apartment door. She knew he was there; she could hear his favorite sports channel playing on the TV quite loudly. She knocked again, attempting to be heard over the TV. Hannah opened the door.

"Hi, Dr. Brennan. Can I help you?"

"Is Booth here?"

"No, he ran to the store. He should be back soon though. Come in," Hannah said, "We were making that macaroni and cheese recipe you gave him and we ran out of milk."

Brennan noticed the way Hannah kept saying _we_ like it had always been just the two of them. She still hated psychology but she didn't like the way it made her feel, being separated from Booth like that. Brennan was already feeling like she had lost. She had lost him to a blonde, peppy journalist. She was just his type…well, almost. Normally, he went for lawyers.

"Is there something you need, Dr. Brennan?"

"Temperance is fine. And I need to talk to Booth about work. There has been a very large development in an old case that demands his immediate attention."

"Do you want me to call him?"

Brennan shook her head. "That won't be necessary. I can wait."

The women sat in Booth's living room in silence after that, neither waiting patiently for him to return. It seemed like an eternity had passed when he entered the apartment.

"Hannah? They didn't have any skim milk so I just got one percent, I hope that's okay," he called out."

"Sarge, Dr. Brennan's here," she said without greeting.

"Sarge?" Brennan questioned. She wasn't used to the military nickname Booth had become accustomed to hearing while away.

"Bones, what are you doing here?"

"I would attempt to fool you with a joke by saying we have a case but since you have not been reinstated with the bureau yet that joke would fall extremely flat. Plus, I would not be the one to be informed of a set of remains surfacing. It is always you informing me of the remains."

Booth smiled shyly at her attempt.

"What's up, Bones?"

"Booth, I have to talk to you about Heather Taffet and Agent Perotta," Brennan cut straight to the chase.

Booth paled at the mention of the Gravedigger. Upon seeing her boyfriend react to something seemingly so harmless, Hannah grabbed his hand and pulled him down onto the couch next to her. Brennan felt a sting of jealousy in her heart, wishing she could be the one to comfort him.

"What does Peyton have to do with Taffet?"

"Taffet tried to kill Perotta," Brennan said, and then launched into the story about Peyton's kidnapping. Booth released a large breath when she told him Taffet was dead and he suddenly felt the need to yell at her for taking on Taffet without him.

"Why didn't they come find me? They got you out of the jungle so why couldn't they get me out of the damn desert?" Booth shouted.

"I don't know the answer to that, Booth. But we obviously handled it quite well. Taffet is dead. We never have to deal with her again. You were needed more in Afghanistan than you were here. I was fine dealing with junior agents. Charlie and I handled things fine," Brennan explained, speaking of the agent Booth had worked closely with over the years.

"I don't give a damn, Bones. She could've killed you! It was my case, too, Bones. Don't you think I should get to see it through to the end?"

"We didn't have a choice, Booth! The Army wouldn't let us extract you from your posting! I tried, Booth. You have no idea how many calls I put in, how many people and politicians I talked to trying to convince them to let my partner come home early. I needed your help, Booth."

By the end of their shouting match, they were both standing nose to nose, never once breaking eye contact. The tension was palpable and Booth soon felt bad for putting Hannah in an awkward position.

"I have to go. I just thought you should know." And before Booth could say or do anything, Brennan was gone.


	7. Battle of Who Could Care Less

Hannah had known about the Gravedigger. She was a reporter in the Washington area before they had met and she had covered the news of his disappearance. She hadn't put the pieces together until Booth told her the story after Brennan left.

Things were a complete mess. He knew there was no way it was Bones' fault that he couldn't leave Afghanistan when Taffet escaped. It was his post, it was his job and by the time the Army would've gotten a replacement, the case would've been over anyway. There was no point. He knew he was being irrational and she didn't understand why. Booth knew she was trying to do him a favor by telling him herself about Taffet and Perotta instead of finding out through the FBI grapevine.

He was lying in bed late that night, thinking over what she had told him and seeing the hurt in her eyes as she watched Hannah console him. He felt Hannah flip over next to him, moving closer to the warmth of his body. There was something Bones hadn't told him. There was something he was missing.

Booth slowly slid out of bed, careful not to wake Hannah. Despite the fact that she was in a deep sleep, she had gotten used to having Booth next to her and he knew she would wake up soon in his absence. He left her a note so she wouldn't worry and changed into street clothes. Booth quietly padded down the hall and slid on a pair of running shoes as he grabbed his keys and a coat as he ran out the door.

* * *

Hannah was awake the moment he was out of bed, the loss of his body heat leaving her wanting more. She was exhausted though and didn't want to move, so she stayed in bed and pulled up the blankets around her. She reached for the nightstand, where he had left the note.

_Knucksie-_

_Couldn't sleep. Went out to clear my head. Don't worry, we'll go for our run in the morning._

_-Sarge_

Hannah smiled at the nickname Booth's unit had given her after she had debuted her knuckleball back at their camp. It was the same nickname as her favorite major league pitcher and it always made her smile every time they called her that. She had finally found some place she had fit in and she loved it. She loved that Booth wasn't intimidated by her.

She placed the note back on the nightstand and tried drifting back to sleep, not worrying about what demons her boyfriend was dealing with.

* * *

He knew he was going to get his ass kicked if she caught him breaking into her apartment, especially if she didn't know it was him.

"Bones?" he called out. He knew she wasn't sleeping. There were too many lights on and her tea kettle was still hot.

"Booth?"

She came strolling out of her bedroom in her robe, a cup of tea in one hand and her laptop tucked under the other arm.

"What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't sleep and I wanted to apologize for yelling at you earlier."

She brushed right by him and sat down on the couch, turning on her computer. "Its fine, Booth. I should've expected that reaction from you. I'm actually surprised it wasn't something worse."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You have a tendency to overreact."

He didn't say anything. He knew she was right. She always was.

"Well, I'm sorry, Bones."

"I accept your apology. Do you want some tea?"

He scrunched his face at the offer and she rolled her eyes at his reaction. She had missed this. She had missed them.

"Well then you can at least sit down. You've been standing in the same spot since you've arrived," she commented. He nodded and sat down close to her on the couch. Booth peeked over her shoulder to see what she was typing up on the computer screen but she leaned away from him to hide.

"Are you writing?" His eyes widened and he instantly became intrigued.

"Yes, I am."

"Can I see?" He knew it was pointless to ask, especially since he already knew the answer.

"You can read it when it's published. Do we have to go through this every time I write another novel?"

"Yes," he teased. She smiled at him. They sat in comfortable silence for a while and Booth made several feeble attempts to sneak a peek at what Brennan was writing.

"So are you ever going to tell me how Mupooku was?" he asked, unable to hide the teasing grin.

She threw him an annoyed glance and said, "Are you sure you want to hear about it? You're going to think it's boring."

He shrugged. "Eh. Just tell me. Maybe it'll make for a nice bedtime story."

She tried to look offended but she just laughed and launched into a dialed down version of her past year so that he would understand, staying away from things like amphiarthrodial joints and obturator foramen of the os coxa.

He knew she was dumbing it down for her but he didn't care. He was genuinely interested how her year away from him had gone. Booth hadn't realized how much he had missed her until she was telling him about all the fun she had in the islands with the new anthropologist friends she had made from around the world.

"And now our historical find is on display in the Jeffersonian. I never did go back though. Addie was kind enough to share credit with me as head of the project after I left. Are you going to tell me about your tour with the Army or is that too difficult to talk about?"

"Nah, it's no biggie. Really, it wasn't as bad as when I was younger. Hell, I sure found out I can't move like I used to. And I hardly left base either," he reassured her. Booth story consisted of telling her that he wasn't in any danger like he had promised and that he had hardly left his camp, with the exceptions for a few scraped missions that went wrong and needed his fixing.

He told her the story of how he met Hannah and Ollie and how she got the nickname Knucksie.

"I don't understand…" she said at first but after a long, roundabout explanation of Hannah's love of pitching a mean knuckle, Bones started to understand. "It's endearing in a way, like the way you call me Bones," she told him. He smiled widely at her. He knew she'd appreciate it eventually.

"I should get going, Bones. I have to head over to the Hoover later today to see if they'll let me have my old job back."

She nodded.

"Hacker will give you your job back. I've been to the Hoover several times since I've been back and all of your things are still right where you left them."

"Thanks, Bones. I'll call you if we get a case," he said with a bit of nostalgia.

She smiled at him as he let himself out of her apartment. After he was gone, she shut her computer and took her tea cup to the kitchen. She made her way to bed with her head full of thoughts.

Thankful that things had recovered smoothly from their argument earlier, she didn't understand why she couldn't tell him about the feelings that had surfaced while in Maluku.

Hannah. That was the reason.

"He's finally happy," she said to no one.

* * *

Booth arrived back to his apartment and found Hannah asleep in bed.

"You okay?" she mumbled.

"Did I wake you up?" he asked, ignoring her question.

"No. I've been dozing off and on for a while. Let's skip our run and get some extra sleep. Come on," she beckoned, sleep blanketing her voice. Booth slipped off his jeans and pulled of his t-shirt before sliding under the sheets next to Hannah.

"Where'd you go?"

"To apologize to Bones."

Booth didn't know if that was the right or the wrong thing to say, but it was the truth. And he wasn't about to start lying to Hannah. She didn't push the subject and Booth was glad.

Whatever Bones wasn't telling him, she still hadn't told him. He was going to get it out of her, one way or another.


	8. Imitation of Myself

"That monkey suit looks almost as good as your dress uniform," Hannah told Booth as he came into the kitchen for breakfast a week later. Booth didn't answer but the blush rushed to his cheeks. It was his first day back at the Bureau and he was trying his best to look as snazzy as possible. He had missed his job and, most of all, he had missed working with Bones.

Hannah left for the Times office earlier than Booth needed to leave for the Hoover, but Booth packed up his things and made his way over to Bones' apartment after stopping to pick up a few cups of coffee for the two of them.

"Booth, what are you doing here so early?"

She stood in the door way, her robe showing some skin and her hair up in towel.

"Sorry, Bones. I…uh, I could've used my key if you were in the shower."

"No, I just got out. You didn't answer my question."

"Today is my first day back!"

"You're excited," she observed.

"Well yeah, Bones, duh!" He handed her the coffee and she took it gratefully.

"Do we have a case already that you haven't told me about?"

"No…"

"Then why are you here so early?"

He actually didn't know why.

"Uh…to hang out with you, Bones."

Brennan laughed lightly and rolled her eyes. "I'm going to get ready for work." She left him standing in the doorway.

"Bones, I have a question." He followed her into her room.

"Booth! Can I at least get dressed first?"

He blushed for the second time that morning, doing all he could to keep his mind off of just how naked she was under that robe.

"Umm, yeah, good call. I'll be right outside. Let me know when you're done."

After a few minutes of holding his ear to the door to listen to what was happening on the other side of the door, she opened the door and found him hovering. Her damp hair hung around her shoulders uncombed and her face was void of any make-up. He had seen her like that before, on several mornings of undercover ops and after all-nighters on cases, but after not seeing her for an entire year, something had changed. In spite of the year that had passed, she looked somehow younger.

"What was your question?" she prompted.

"Huh?"

"You said you had a question for me."

"Oh. Oh! No, well, I was just wondering if you were okay. When I saw you last week, you know, you just seemed kinda…off."

"I don't understand what you're getting at, but I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You told me all the stuff about Taffet and Peyton. Nothing happen with you that you're hiding from me, right? I'm not going to hear some story from Angela that you went rogue."

"No. Nothing happened except for when I was with the task force and we confronted Taffet when she was killed, which I believe I already told you."

"Yes, you did. I'm just making sure. I know how you are, Bones. But if I get a different story from Angela or Cam, you're in deep shit."

She instantly became confused over the phrase and Booth launched into a long explanation of why it means she would be in trouble. It took way too long, however, and Booth continued the conversation as he escorted her into the Jeffersonian.

"Bones, I don't know how that saying got started, okay?"

"It's gross."

"I know, Bones, sorry. I won't use it any more, deal? Can we drop it now?"

"I suppose that would be a good idea. You should be getting over to the Hoover anyway."

"Yeah, I'll see ya later. I'll call you if we get a case."

"Okay. Bye, Booth."

Booth left Brennan's office and walked right by Angela's office.

"Yo, G-man!" he heard as he passed. Booth abruptly stopped and doubled back. Angela and Cam were standing by the Angelator, exchanging details on a museum file.

"What's up?"

"You two already got a case on your first day back?" Cam asked.

Booth shook his head. "Nah, I was just hangin' out with Bones this morning and I brought her to work."

Cam didn't seem fazed but Angela seemed very interested. "So…did she tell you yet? 'Cause she's getting on my nerves about this and I've been trying to get her to tell you since the moment you got back from Afghanistan."

"Tell me what?"

"Tell him what?" Cam wanted to know, now very invested in the conversation.

Angela felt like a horrible friend. "I am in some deep shit."

"Don't use that around Bones. I said that this morning and she didn't get it no matter how much I tried explaining it. And she thinks it's gross," Booth warned, seemingly for the moment forgetting about Angela's big mouth.

"Wait, what was Dr. Brennan supposed to tell Booth?" Cam asked.

"I can't say. Shit. I am a really bad friend."

"What can't you tell me?" Booth pressed.

"I can't tell you!"

"Ugh. I have to get to the Hoover. I'm not dropping this, either," he said, making a point to Angela as he ran out the door.

"Angela, whatever you can't tell Booth, tell me. Because now that Michelle's in college, I'm kind of missing the gossip I had to listen to."

Angela bit her lip in hesitation and then said, "So remember that meltdown Bren had when we found out that there was no way we could get Booth home to help with Taffet?"

She waited for Cam to nod to continue, but Angela didn't need to say anything else.

"Oh…my, god! She's in love with him!"

"Okay, so I totally didn't tell you that. You figured it out all on your own," Angela said.

* * *

_Did I hear that right? God, I have got to be dreaming, or go get that tumor checkup early this year, _he thought. He knew Angela and Cam almost as well as he knew Bones. Booth had just far enough to be out of sight from the two but close enough to still hear them. They didn't whisper as quietly as they thought.

And as much as he wanted to do something about what had just inadvertently been revealed to him, he wasn't the cheating kind. And Booth wasn't normally the late for work kind either. He really wanted to listen to whatever Cam and Angela were going to gossip about next, assuming it had to do with Bones, but he dashed off to work, planning to use the day to think of a plan to make sure everyone ended up happy.


	9. Philosophy

"Booth, this is the fourth time this week you've brought take-out over to my place for dinner. We are going to get fat."

"Aren't you the one who said that fat is just a deposit and the term is actually overweight?"

"You are correct. But you're missing my point. Why haven't you been with Hannah?"

They were sitting on her couch facing each other. Her feet were coiled beneath her and his striped socked feet were resting on her knees as they sat at opposite ends.

He shrugged and looked away from her.

"I haven't seen you for a while."

"I see you at work every day."

He looked at her and she knew that was not what he meant.

"Compared to the last year…I've hardly seen you, Bones. Plus, Hannah's been working at the Times a lot. She's a traveling reporter. That's how I met her in the first place."

She nodded. "Are you two okay, though? As a couple?"

"Why are you asking me that, Bones?"

Brennan shrugged this time. "Angela would say that you're avoiding her. Or at least avoiding being around her when she is awake. I've noticed you usually don't leave my apartment until late, indicating Hannah is most likely asleep by the time you arrive at your apartment."

"I…just like spending time with ya, Bones, that's all."

Her phone buzzed on the table and she answered.

"Hey, Addie…No, I'm not working…Can I call you later? I'm with Booth…No, Addie! Goodbye!" She laughed as she hung up the phone.

"That was your friend from the dig?" he asked.

"Yes. She wanted to speak to you when I told her I was with you but I don't think it's a very good idea."

"Why not?" he cried.

"Addie is very much like Angela. You're not going to want your private life pried into over the phone from a few thousand miles away in Iowa."

Booth just smiled at her. He thought maybe he had found his opening.

"What would she ask me?"

"Things about me, Parker, Hannah, your sex life. Things you don't like telling people you don't know, which are also things you sometimes done like telling Angela."

"True. But maybe I wanted to talk to Addie."

Brennan just shrugged.

He discovered he wasn't as good at this girl-talk thing as he thought.

"She seems like a good friend," he added.

Brennan nodded and smiled. "I miss Addie. I think she's going to come out for a visit soon. Although the University of Iowa has been thinking of giving her another research grant so she may not have much free time coming. I may go visit her instead."

"That's good, Bones. You deserve a good vacation."

"I just came back from Indonesia, Booth. Iowa can't even begin to compare to Maluku."

"A vacation is a vacation, Bones," he countered.

It became silent again except from the scraping of Booth's fork against the bottom of the take-out box, a sign of him attempting to get every last morsel. That familiar buzz sounded in the room again and Brennan ignored her phone.

"Aren't you going to get it?"

"No."

"Why?"

"It's just Addie."

Booth dove for the phone and Brennan instantly realized her mistake. His reflexes were quicker than hers and Booth snatched up the phone.

"Dr. Temperance Brennan's phone, Agent Booth speaking," he announced, putting her phone on speaker.

The sound of Addie's laughter filled Brennan's living room. "Agent Booth! Just the person I wanted to talk to! Where's Tempe?"

"I'm right here. Booth, give me my phone!" she said, making a swipe for it.

"Not so fast!" Addie said, "I want to talk to Booth. Either take me off speaker or go somewhere private. This is a serious convo we're about to have."

Brennan couldn't believe what she was hearing. Booth turned the speaker off and placed the phone to his ear.

"Okay, I'm listening," he told Brennan's friend. He began to pace.

"I know…Yes, I know…Yes…Yes, very much…No, I've only guessed…So, I'm right? Okay…Okay, hold on."

Booth pulled the phone away from his ear and walked to Brennan.

"Dr. Hudson wants to talk to you."

Booth smiled at her but Brennan didn't return the grin.

"Hi, Addie…no, I-…You want me to…Addie, I don't think…No, this isn't a good idea…He's seeing someone…Well, I care…It's not going to happen, Dr. Hudson."

"Bones, are you okay?"

He could tell something was upsetting her. He knew what Addie was telling her, or at least, he had some idea.

"I'm fine, Booth," she said, placing her hand over the receiver. Her eyes were watery and she was having a hard time hiding it.

She was listening to whatever Addie was saying on the other end of the phone but she hated every second of it.

"I'll be right back, Booth." She left the living room and walked briskly down the end of the hall to her bedroom.

He followed but only when he heard the door click shut. His stealth training came in handy; his feet not making a sound despite the floorboards that normally creaked when walked on.

"Addie, I can't tell him. He's happy with her. I just want him to be happy."

"Didn't you ever think that maybe he'd be happier with you?" Addie's voice crackled over the speaker phone. Booth eased the door open to sneak a peek inside. She was sitting on the side of her bed, her back to him. The phone was resting on her nightstand by a box of tissues.

"It doesn't matter, Addie." She took a deep breath to stop the tears and grabbed a tissue.

"Tempe, I've never met that man in my life but I can tell you he still loves you."

Brennan laughed a short, doubtful laugh. "How can you even tell? You've talked to him once for less than a minute."

"I asked him."

"What?"

"I asked him. He told me he was still in love with you. Do you believe me yet?"

She sat in silence and Booth took it as his cue to leave. He plopped back on the couch and waited for her return.

Feeling restless, he got up and strode over to the balcony. He slid the door open and let the cool summer air hit him as he walked outside. Booth leaned against the railing and looked out over the street below at his surroundings. Waiting for her wasn't making him any calmer, but she needed to talk it out. For all he knew, she was on the phone with Angela now, too.

Booth knew her friends were probably helping her recognize her feelings, but whether she would or not wasn't his problem.

Hannah. That was his problem.

He couldn't be committed albeit loosely to one woman while confessing his everlasting love for another.

Booth pulled his own phone out of his pocket and sent a quick text to Hannah. While waiting for her reply, Booth ran into Bones' kitchen and snagged a piece of paper out of the notepad she used to keep track of the groceries she needed. He left her a note telling her he'd be back quick after running a quick errand and to save him some of the fried rice. He left fast, hoping to be back before she was done talking to Addie.

Brennan heard her door slam and left the security of her bedroom to investigate. She was alone, but she spied Booth's note and knew he'd be back.

She smiled. She knew he wanted the rest of that fried rice.

* * *

"So you're just now figuring out that Dr. Brennan is in love with you?"

"What?"

"You really thought she didn't love you, didn't you, Sarge?"

He sat on the edge of Hannah's desk in the bullpen off the Washington Times office. It was late at night but the office was still bustling with reporters.

He ran a hand over his face. He suddenly felt exhausted. His life was a mess and he had no idea how to clean it up without making the mess bigger.

"Look, Knucksie, Bones…she's hard to read. Half the time I can figure her out but then…she knocks one out to right field and I had no read on the ball, you catch my drift?"

She nodded.

"I'm not going to give you up that easy, Sarge."

She rose from her chair and pinned Booth to the desk. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled his lips to hers. Hannah didn't care that she was surrounded by her coworkers. She wanted to devour him like she hadn't eaten in days and claim him.

Booth let it happen, but only for a second. He put a hand on her shoulder and pushed her gently back. She took the hint and sat back down in her chair, not taking her eyes off of him.

"If you never got over her in the first place, why were we even dating?"

He shook his head, as if it would help him find the answer he was searching for.

"I don't know, Hannah," he said, her given name stinging just a bit in her ears after becoming used to the nickname, "I guess I had something to prove. Look, Hannah, I gotta go. Bones is waitin' for me. We'll figure everything else out later."

She didn't say anything but went right back to her work.

He thought it best not to push it, so he pressed a light kiss goodbye to her head and went back to Bones.

* * *

She was standing on the balcony when he got back, holding a hot cup of tea between her hands. The early summer air was too cold for her and the tea helped to keep her warm.

He walked in quietly behind her, but loud enough so he wouldn't scare her.

"You left rather quickly," she commented.

He shrugged, not that she could see. Booth was still standing in the open doorway of the balcony, not sure of his next move.

"Had a few loose ends to tie up."

"On a case?"

"Something like that."

Booth moved to her side but she still didn't look at him. She kept her eyes on the skyline.

"Bones."

She looked at him.

"I'm not with Hannah anymore."

She looked away again.

"Why?"

"She wasn't good for me."

"Why?"

"Because, Bones…"

"Addie told me you left to break up with her."

He hesitated.

"Yeah. Did Addie tell you our whole conversation?"

"No." She became curious, "Are you going to tell me?"

"Eventually."

They fell silent again. She took a step back from the edge of the balcony. He did the same to stand even with her. She shivered and he ushered her inside. She put her tea cup away and he closed the balcony door.

He walked into the kitchen where she was standing, thinking of what to say to him.

"Booth, I really don't know if I am even capable of giving you what you want, but I'm willing to try."

She had reached the breaking point. Her tears flowed down her cheeks again and he instantly stepped closer.

"Addie has this sort of…philosophy. The way she looks at things…I don't know how to even explain it. The way she views the world is so incredibly different. She doesn't understand what happened between us. She thought it could've been prevented. And she's right. It probably could have. But what I'm trying to tell you now, Booth, is that I am going to adopt Addie's philosophy, or try anyway."

"So you're saying…"

"I want to give this a chance. Me and you. Our relationship. Like you said before, I want to give us a shot."

Booth snaked a hand behind her neck and his other arm behind her back to draw her close as their lips came together. She didn't fight it this time. When he pulled back to see her reaction, she smiled.

He smiled back but said warily, "I thought you didn't believe in love."

She shrugged. "'Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence,'" she quoted.

"Human existence is a problem?" Booth scoffed, "Who said that?"

"Erich Fromm."

"I have no clue who that is."

"He was a philosopher. But his main profession was as a...social psychologist."

Booth laughed. "I thought psychology was a soft science?"

"It is," Brennan maintained, "But I have come to recognize that the American Psychology Association has its foundations in hard science so I have told Dr. Sweets that I will stop giving him such a hard time."

He was surprised. "Wow, Bones. That's awfully nice of you."

"Yes. I suppose so. Addie has told me that my time in Maluku has changed me."

"I thought you said you couldn't change."

"I was wrong."


	10. Epilogue: Songs of Love

**A/N: The song _Cheek to Cheek_ was written by Irving Berlin for the movie Top Hat featuring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. This is the end. I hope you enjoyed the ride. Please let me know what you think.**

* * *

Hannah was gone.

Booth had arrived at his apartment the next morning after spending the night wide awake with Brennan talking about everything, sharing details of things they thought they knew of each other and things no one knew.

He should've exhausted but the fact that he could still remember how Bones' lips felt on his kept him from drifting off.

Walking into his apartment, things were noticeably different. Her touch, whatever it was that made it Hannah's place too, was gone. The objects they had gotten to make it theirs were still around, leaving traces of a past he wasn't exactly proud of.

Booth's phone chirped, snapping him out of his reverie. It was Bones, reminding him to pick up coffee before he met her at the Jeffersonian. He smiled, knowing she was getting antsy without her morning coffee and he hurried to get dressed. He'd deal with his apartment later. He just wanted to be where she was. They had wasted enough time as it was.

He dressed quickly and scurried back out the door.

The line at the coffee shop was long and Booth quickly became impatient. He listened to the tune on the sound system and recognized it instantly. It was from an old Fred Astaire movie. It had been his mother's favorite when he was growing up and he always had to dance with her.

He smiled and hummed along with the song. He knew every word to the song and the memories of his mother, the good ones at least, flooded back.

The bad memories came back to him as well. The beatings his father gave him, his mother and Jared were still fresh and raw in his mind no matter how many years ago they occurred. He had to spend time at his father's barbershop after school and help out, cleaning up scraps of hair and listening to the customers talk about what they had seen in war. But even those memories couldn't put a damper on his day.

Booth stepped up to the counter and ordered his coffee quickly. The teenage barista was shy at first, instantly smitten with Booth's charming smile. He grinned wider at her and her cheeks flushed. His day was already looking up.

He and Brennan had agreed to keep quiet about their relationship for the most part, telling only those who absolutely needed to know, such as their bosses and Sweets. The baby-faced doctor said he signed off on it and Hacker and Cullen didn't dispute his recommendation. Brennan went to the lab early to tell Cam, who had a smug smile but said nothing.

"Finally," Cam muttered, after Brennan walked out of the autopsy room.

By the time Booth reached the lab, he was practically belting the old musical song he had heard in the coffee shop.

"_Heaven, I'm in heaven. And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak. And I seem to find the happiness I seek when we're out together dancing cheek to cheek."_

Brennan, the entire Squint Squad plus several of the interns stopped their work on the forensic platform and watched Booth stroll into the lab and swipe his access card.

"_Heaven, I'm in heaven. And the cares that hung around me through the week seem to vanish like a gambler's lucky streak," _Booth sang loudly,_ "when we're out together dancing cheek to cheek."_

He took the platform steps two at a time and ignored the awkward stares of everyone around him.

"Are you gambling again, Booth?" Brennan asked, unaware that it was unusual of him to be singing, let alone in front of people.

"Huh?" he stopped, "No! It's part of the song, Bones!"

"Oh." She turned back to the skeleton lying on the exam table.

Booth looked it over. It was fully skeletonized, no goop, slime or bugs. Her lab coat looked clean so he spun her back around and hooked a finger in each wrist of her gloves, snapping the off with a flick of his wrist.

"Booth! Do you have some information on the case or something? What do you need?"

He began to hum the tune again and pulled her close. He took one of her hands in his and wrapped his other arm around her waist.

"What are you doing?" she said through gritted teeth, her voice low and full of warning.

"We're dancing, Bones," he whispered in her ear. She shivered as she felt his breath on her skin.

The spectators of the scene couldn't believe what they were seeing. Angela was ecstatic, but wasn't making a sound. Cam and Hodgins were watching like proud parents and the interns were watching awkwardly, like they wanted to give the partners their privacy.

"I thought we weren't going to say anything?" she whispered back.

"I don't really care anymore. I'm in a good mood today," he told her.

"I can see that. Why?"

"You?"

"Me?"

"Yeah."

"Booth?"

"Huh?"

"Can we stop now?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"Remember when I told you I wanted you to find happiness? You know…love, laughter, friendship, purpose and a dance?"

Brennan smiled as she saw the meaning behind it.

"I remember," she whispered.

"So did you find it?" he asked, pulling away from her slightly so he could look in her eyes.

"I did."


End file.
